While films like Battleship, Wrath of the Titans, and especially Taken 2, can be considered hilarious for all the wrong reasons, Liam Neeson has finally bit the bullet and jumped into a full-fledged comedy. Coming off of his Oscar hosting stint, Seth MacFarlane is assembling to the cast to his Ted follow-up A Million Ways to Die in the West and considering he grabbed a hefty $500 million-plus gross for his directorial debut, the actors are flocking to his new project.

The Hollywood Reporter alerts us to the Neeson casting, while also chiming in that MacFarlane’s Ted villain Giovanni Ribisi will be taking a role that was previously being eyed for Jonah Hill in the western comedy. Amanda Seyfried and Charlize Theron also star in the project that’s drawing comparisons to Blazing Saddles, while MacFarlane plays a sheepish farmer named Albert who chickens out of a gunfight and sees his girlfriend (Seyfried) leave him. When he meets the wife of a notorious outlaw (Theron) who offers to teach him how to shoot, the farmer at first sees a chance to win back his love but slowly falls for the woman.

Complications ensue when the outlaw (Neeson) returns and reclaims his woman. Ribisi figures in as Albert’s best bud Edward, who plays “a simple shoe repairman who bears up with a girlfriend who won’t have sex with him, but as a working prostitute she’s doing it with everybody else. He tried to get his buddy Albert back into the dating scene.” Despite the general appreciation, I didn’t find much to admire when it came to MacFarlane’s last effort (especially Ribisi’s subplot), but this concept sounds more ripe for comedy, so hopefully he can hit it home.

Are you looking forward to Neeson and Ribisi together for MacFarlane’s next film?